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Twitter's New Profile Layout Is Here: What You Need to Know

Well, the rumors from February about a possible design overhaul of Twitter profile pages are officially no longer rumors.

Yesterday, Twitter announced that a new profile design is coming to everyone's favorite 140 character social media site very soon and has already been made available to a small group of users.

If you don't have the new layout yet, at some point in the next few weeks, you will likely log in to your Twitter account to find that your profile page has been replaced with the new page design. So, here's what you need to know about the new layout so your profile looks top-notch when the time comes.

Note: If you’re new to Twitter, you will automatically start with the new profile when you create your account. New users are still walked through the same general process of building their account, so it's actually a great way to practice dealing with the new layout.

What You Should Know About the New Twitter Profile Layout

Here's an example of what the new layout will look like -- you’ll quickly notice how dramatically the layout of the profile page has changed:

Looks kind of like Facebook, right? Alright, here's what you should know about the changes so you're prepared:

Profile Header Photo

The header photos on the new Twitter profile pages are no longer located behind the profile picture as they were previously. Now, the header photo is located at the top of the page and stretches across the entire length of the screen at 1500x500 pixels. To add a header image, you can either upload a custom image or you can select a pre-loaded theme from Twitter's collection in the design tab on the settings page.

Profile Picture

The profile picture, now 400x400 pixels, is also much larger on the new profiles. In addition, it will no longer be located in the middle of the page. Instead, on the new profiles, your profile pic will be positioned toward the top left of the page, overlapping slightly with the bottom left corner of the header image.

Do not fear -- your current profile picture and header image with be automatically resized to fit the larger dimensions on the layout. But that doesn't mean you can't put some thought into two images that would work well together considering the new layout and dimensions, much like you would with your Facebook Page's images.

Additional Layout Changes

There are a number of additional changes to the general layout of the profile pages, as well. Here are some notable ones that probably won't affect how you design your profile, but are good to know in case you get confused about where things are located:

The name, handle, bio, and pictures are all now positioned on the left-hand side of the page, directly below the profile picture.

The "Who to Follow" and "Trends" modules can be found at the opposite side of the page.

The tabs that display tweets, following and, followers are to the right of the profile picture and directly below the header image.

There are now also additional tabs for Favorites, photos/videos, and lists included inline with the standard tabs.

On the new profile pages, your tweets -- you know, the actual content -- take up the majority of the page. They are listed vertically, by date, and you can scroll through them as you would a news feed. Another (more minor) difference is when you follow new people, that information is included among your list of tweets.

Finally, if you select one of the other tabs under your header image -- such as "Followers" or "Following," that information is presented to you in an entirely new way. Rather than a scrollable list, you get a Pinterest-like board of your followers or those you follow listed in boxes both vertically and horizontally across the screen.

Customizing How Tweets Appear

The new profile pages also offer three new features that customize the way your tweets appear when people visit your profile page, and allow you to customize the tweets that you see when you visit another profile page.

Best Tweets

Your most popular tweets -- those that are retweeted, favorited, and replied to the most -- will appear slightly larger on your profile page than the rest of your tweets, so others can easily identify and interact with your best content.

Pinned Tweets

You can now promote some of your own content on your profile page using pinned tweets. Essentially, this feature allows you to pin one of your tweets to the top of your profile page so anyone who visits your profile will see that tweet first. All you have to do to pin a tweet is click on the ellipses (the "More" menu) and select "Pin to Your Profile Page."

Filtered Tweets

When you visit another profile page, you have the ability to select the types of tweets you want to see, filtering in only the tweets with photos and videos or only the tweets with replies.

Because many of us are still waiting for the new layout, there's not a lot you can do now -- except perhaps prepare some new creative for your profile picture and header photo. But you can think about how you'll use these new features when they come your way -- which will be soon!

Do you have the new Twitter profile yet? Share what you've learned in the comments so we can all learn from you!